[Comprehensive] The days when I pretended to be a meow in the Forbidden City

Zhao Zhen is in a hurry these days.

He finally knew why when he sealed Zhanzhao, he just got tickled and resisted. It was because everyone in the court was waiting for today.They were waiting for Zhao Zhen to dig a hole for himself to jump into.

A lot of troubles, coupled with the lack of cooperation of the courtiers, made him eager to hear good news.The good news was brought by Xia Anran.Sometimes Zhao Zhen really thinks that his little cousin must be a lucky star, at least his little lucky star. Since he met his little cousin, his luck has been improving all the way. There was a report from Si Tianjian before that Fu Xingyaotian , Hehehe, it must be the little cousin!

Xia Anran didn't know what Zhao Zhen was thinking, he was busy in the Ministry of Industry these days and hit the back of his head.

The coke that was successfully smelted a few days ago became the fuel for the next smelting, coupled with a kiln made of refractory bricks, the burning method regardless of cost raised the temperature to an unprecedented temperature in one fell swoop.

And this time it is not an instantaneous temperature, but has lasted for a long time at this temperature, that is to say, there is still room for raising the temperature in theory.

Xia Anran was curious about how to measure the temperature of flames in the Song Dynasty when there were no thermometers. It turned out that the clever craftsmen used various glazes to dye some porcelain clay, and placed it evenly in the kiln. In various places, the temperature here can be judged according to the color change of the glaze.At the same time, the color of the flame at the chimney mouth is used as an auxiliary judgment, and the temperature of the flame can basically be guessed eighty to ninety percent.

Of course, the most important basis for judging is the degree of melting of the metal.

This time, as a test object, it was placed in the copper and iron ware scooped into the kiln. The copper ware had completely melted, and when it was taken out, it had become a puddle of copper, and the iron ware was in a state of dripping wax.

That is to say, some parts of this ironware with relatively high impurity content have reached its melting point. Generally speaking, cast iron is mostly made of pig iron. Although the iron farm tools used as experiments are also considered cast iron, they have also been forged. Some of them must belong to wrought iron, or even steel.

Although the content of it cannot be confirmed, there is no doubt that the melting point of ironware is much higher than that of iron ore. Today's change has given people the recognition that the temperature has almost reached the melting point of iron and the impetus for improvement.

Since it has been confirmed that the heat generated by the combustion of coke is much higher than that of coal, even though the cost is high, if the temperature of melting iron into molten iron can really be reached, considering the benefits it brings, these costs can be paid accepted.

Although today's steel casting has greatly saved labor with the help of hydraulic presses, it still cannot change the fact that the production process has not improved in essence.

They still use the thousand-year-old method of pouring steel and frying steel.

It has to be said that for a technical type of work, it is a shame in itself to use the methods that have been used for nearly a thousand years without innovation.

For this reason, they have tried to make improvements before, but now, they feel that they are getting closer and closer to innovation, and they are only a few steps away from being recorded in the annals of history. This kind of excitement that is about to see the dawn makes the artisans The degree of cooperation has been greatly improved.

The entire Ministry of Industry provided resources to Xia Anran's side. When Xia Anran proposed to improve the efficiency of the ventilation facilities and improve the blower, it directly used all the departments of the Ministry of Industry that are currently available for joint research and development. .

The factor that increases the flame temperature, besides changing the raw material, is undoubtedly the oxygen content.

In the current smelting process, pure oxygen is used for auxiliary combustion, but of course there is no such condition today.

However, relying on the oxygen content introduced by the thermal expansion of the furnace itself and today's blowers seem to be unable to meet the demand.

The renovation of the furnace has already begun, and in fact the kiln itself, which is made entirely of heat-resistant bricks, has undergone some revisions, and it can be said that it is difficult to make adjustments.Since it is difficult to start from the stove itself, it is natural to add accessories outside.

my country is the first country in the world to have the concept of air blowing equipment. As early as the Eastern Han Dynasty, water drainage appeared, and in the Song Dynasty, an innovative product appeared and popularized, that is, the double-acting piston bellows. There has been no innovation in the past thousand years, and it is even being used in modern rural areas.

But such a bellows is far from enough for a giant kiln, and its oxygen delivery cannot meet the needs of the kiln.

But improving such a bellows is definitely not as simple as enlarging it proportionally. The original bellows can be pulled by manpower, but how to operate the enlarged version?

— Animal power, this is the simplest answer.

The model drawing was made three days later, but the use of animal power was rejected by Xia Anran.

Of course, there is nothing wrong with using animal power, but to achieve a reasonable amount of oxygen intake, the animal power required is huge, and such a huge energy consumption cannot be popularized in every region.

And there is another important factor. The endurance of animals is limited. If you want to easily pull the bellows without using pulleys, you can only use high-strength animals such as cows and horses. If you consider the weight of the appliance itself and energy consumption, According to this size, it is estimated that it is not enough for one or two animals to solve it.

And there is another factor that needs to be solved. The principle of the bellows is to let the wind enter from the air inlet by hand, and then press the wind out from the other air outlet by pushing.Animal power can pull, but who will push?

Does the opposite direction have to let the animals send the lever back?

Does such inefficiency really improve oxygen delivery?

Excessive compression speed is likely to cause oxygen to be squeezed out of the kiln before it has time to contact the coke surface. This is nothing but a waste, and the final result may not be as good as high-frequency and small-scale oxygen supply.

When the craftsmen in the workshop were frowning at Nanwang's request for a high-frequency and low-consumption air supply blower, there were still a bunch of craftsmen who were developing and adjusting the composition ratio of refractory bricks. They needed to measure a critical value. It is about whether the temperature of refractory bricks can be lowered during firing to save the cost of firing, and the other is whether the maximum refractory temperature of refractory bricks can be increased.

The former has yet to be verified according to the difference in raw materials, and the latter completely gave up after Xia Anran tried to recall what was invalid about the high refractory materials he knew.But he mentioned that the heat-resistant temperature of bricks seems to be proportional to the temperature of the first firing.That is to say, the first point and the second point that craftsmen struggle with are contradictory.

After throwing the explosives, Xia Anran immediately went for a walk, leaving only the craftsmen who couldn't stop them jumping around.

The time was spent by the craftsmen losing hair one by one and frying the furnace again and again. Finally, one day, Xia Anran suddenly remembered that she still had a free labor force.

Bai Yutang's official persona is good at tricks. Although he can't tell from his personality, this young man who usually behaves a bit rough and careless in his daily life will do all kinds of troubles whenever he has nothing to do and hides in his yard.He arranged his small courtyard into a place where ordinary people had better not set foot easily.

He is also very good at transforming weapons. For example, Xia Anran's two guns have been adjusted to become foldable and detachable after his adjustment. Under Bai Jinxi's men, it only takes about five to six breaths to assemble them. , as the ultimate self-defense weapon can also be considered concealed.

However, the confidentiality of the workshop was too high, and Xia Anran did not dare to bring people in easily. He asked Zhao Zhen before he brought him in under the name of his deputy. For this reason, Zhao Zhen wrote a letter.

Bai Yutang, who grew up in a water town in the south of the Yangtze River, solved half of the problems on the second day after joining the research team.

Jinhua's terrain is complex, with mountains, hills and plains. Here, it is commonplace to cast water conservancy facilities using height differences. Therefore, when hearing these craftsmen living in the plains worry about how to solve these problems, Bai Yutang almost He said the answer without hesitation - water.

Yes, water power is indeed a facility that will never get tired, but the pulling force formed by water conservancy is the same as animal power, it only has one direction.

As far as the result is concerned, it is not much different from animal power.

Facing a group of craftsmen who had completely reached a dead end, the young and flexible Bai Yutang was silent for a while, resisting the impulse and not being rude. As a craftsman of his grandfather's generation, he directly picked up the tools and made a simple experimental object.

The craftsmen are all professionals, and they understood Bai Yutang's intentions when he was half-finished.So the craftsmen who are proficient in this way directly brought in various carpentry and clay plastics, and made the model in less than half a day.

To put it simply, according to Bai Yutang’s thinking, he used water power as the driving force, and changed the direction of the force by hanging something like a millstone on a lever and a pulley block, so that the water power turned into a pulling force when the millstone turned in one direction, and the other When it comes to direction, it is thrust.So as to achieve the effect of pushing and pulling the blower.Although many problems need to be solved to achieve the perfect effect, such as the material, but...

Many craftsmen looked at the small concept model that Bai Yutang made in just half a day, and at the appearance of the face-covering dress that was exactly the same as them. The craftsmen who had a wrong understanding of its positioning immediately shook hands. The hand of Bai Yutang, who was quite smug and smug, "Xiao Lang, are you interested in joining our Ministry of Industry?"

When Bai Yutang had such a bright performance, Xia Anran was not in the Ministry of Industry.

He was summoned to an informal meeting held in a small room with the emperor.

The theme of this meeting is the reform of the army.

That's right, Zhao Zhen is ready to attack the army.

Although he doesn't know the historical process, Zhao Zhen has an emperor's intuition. His plan for the future is that a war may be launched in the next 2 to 3 years. Since it is a war, he will inevitably face large-scale military use. Condition.

As an emperor, he certainly hopes that his army can win with one blow. To achieve this goal, both hardware and software must be in place.

Now the equipment and hardware facilities are basically in place, and the software has also begun to be laid. Pots of chicken soup in the capital have been steaming, and the public's identity and recognition of soldiers are gradually increasing.

But when Zhao Zhen reviewed the documents handed in and sealed by the Ministry of Military Affairs, he discovered a very serious question - how many soldiers does he have?

This question seems ridiculous, don't you know how many troops a country has as an emperor?Zhao Zhen once thought he knew it, until after he carefully calculated his statistical results, he had doubts about this conclusion.

The conscription system adopted by the Song Dynasty is a recruitment system, and it is a lifelong system.That is to say, one day is a soldier, and one is a soldier for life.

In order to ensure the stability of the army and the loyalty of the soldiers, and at the same time, in order to reduce the influence of a certain general on the army, the military system of the Song Dynasty changed from the military system of the government to the state raising soldiers. At the same time, the state does not raise a soldier. And the families of soldiers.

Undoubtedly, if you want to talk about the salaries of soldiers in various dynasties and generations, the Northern Song Dynasty cannot fall out of the top three.

High salaries do not raise incorruptibility, but also greed.

A soldier can indeed get a small amount of maintenance and pension after his sacrifice, but this money is not on the same level as the funds that the soldier can continue to receive when he "lives" until he is 70 or [-] years old, thus creating a situation where, That is empty pay.

A soldier's salary is a small amount of money, but when this part of the money is accumulated, calculated according to the year and month, it becomes a number that even a saint would be tempted by.

And Song's habit of not moving the middle and lower ranks of the army but only the upper ranks became a fertile ground for this greed.

In the middle and late Song Dynasty, the country had no money, and the army had to use similar methods in order to maintain expenses and prevent soldiers from mutinying. This situation happened in both the Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China.

This is a kind of malpractice brought about by attributing military expenditure to the unified expenditure of national finance.

Zhao Zhen has no intention of pursuing this point for the time being. Compared with the issue of money, the most important thing now is that he has to find a way to find out how many soldiers he has are real, and how many of them are in their prime.

Yes, another evil result brought about by the lifelong recruitment system is the aging of the barracks.

This does not exist in theory.

The age of soldiers is between [-] and [-] years old. After passing this area, their physical fitness and reaction ability will decline. Except for a small number of these soldiers, they can win with experience, or the commanders who have been promoted to the position of small leaders. May be naturally eliminated by the battlefield.

This was basically the case in the previous dynasties, so the compulsory retirement age rarely appeared in the military system of the past dynasties. Even if there were a few elderly people, they could be regarded as human beings for protection and propaganda.

However, since the Chanyuan Alliance was signed, except for a small number of local troops in the Song Dynasty, most of them have not encountered wars for a long time, and the number of natural attrition in wars has dropped sharply. The number of people may account for about one-twentieth of the total.

Seems to be okay?No, that's exactly the biggest problem.

Although the Song Dynasty was light on martial arts, it had very detailed regulations on the promotion of military positions and awarding awards.

At this age, he is still only mixed among the ranks of soldiers, so it can be basically judged that he has no achievements on the battlefield.

No beheading, no team exploits, never participated in the forward battle, nothing, spent ten or even 20 years in the barracks... Such a soldier, who was like this when he was young, can go to the battlefield now?

Zhao Zhen has reservations about this.

If he hadn't paid attention this time, Zhao Zhen would never have thought that there were still these problems in his army, and after he stated these findings, the clear eyes of the courtiers above made him even more frightened.

Almost no one showed a look of astonishment.

Which means, this isn't a recent problem.

So, how long has this problem lasted, long enough for civil servants to regard it as normal?

"Your Majesty, this matter should be discussed in a long-term manner." Prime Minister Wang Dan bowed his head, and his expression did not show much fluctuation. This remonstrance seemed to be just an ordinary remonstrance. It was just the hidden meaning in his words, but it made people Zhao Zhen suppressed the anger in his heart.

It's not time to start.

It's better to say that you can't do it at this time.

These people have been rooted in the army for such a long time, there must be a lot of imaginable branches, and the relationship among them is intricate. If the withdrawal of the troops is handled easily, it is very likely that the army will be provoked to mutiny.

It can only be drawn slowly.

But the most important thing at the moment is that he wants to know how many soldiers he has that are really capable of fighting.If he didn't even understand this point, all his future plans would be a joke.

So he sent a special investigation team after thinking about it.

Zhao Zhen sent two of his most trusted officials to investigate the matter. They were Bao Zheng and Grand Master Pang.

Bao Zheng's heart is like a bright mirror, and Grand Master Pang is in charge of "harmony with light and dust". Neither of these two can achieve the result Zhao Zhen wants, but they can cover each other when they go together.Don't look at Taishi Pang looking confused, Zhao Zhen knows exactly how capable this person is.

He couldn't deal with it now, he could only beat him. Bao Zheng was young and energetic, and he would be easily provoked if he didn't take the lead, so he had to send both of them over in one go.With Grand Master Pang around, Bao Zheng can be held back to some extent, and it doesn't matter if he can't hold back occasionally. If he is too weak, it will make people suspicious, and the most beautiful is the degree of stretching.

When the two high officials of the current dynasty were sent to the local area, they naturally had to mobilize people to protect them. Zhao Zhen directly sent all the first-class and three members of this year's martial arts to lead a team of imperial guards, and Kaifeng Mansion's own yamen guards. A mighty crowd left Beijing with a hurricane that shocked the government and the public.

Although this move is unprecedented, it is not too far-fetched. The most important thing is that after the three of them return to the imperial court, they will naturally accumulate certain achievements, and it will be much easier to seal them at that time.

Zhao Zhen's order alarmed many people, the civil servants were far from happy, and the generals were hesitant to speak.Among them, the complex attitude made Xia Anran feel that there must be a big drama in their hearts at this moment.

But before the big drama in their hearts was staged, an accident happened suddenly.

There was a fire that burned down half of the library of the Ministry of War.

The fire came suddenly, burned inexplicably, and extinguished inexplicably, and the emperor's reaction in the end was also somewhat bizarre.

No casualties were caused by the water leakage this time, and the first aid was also swift. The magnanimous emperor praised the firefighting team, and then pretended not to pursue it.

After learning that the library of the Ministry of War was on fire, many people were secretly happy, and some people were uneasy. Over the past few days, in order to investigate the situation of armies in various places, the Ministry of War and the Privy Council have sorted out a large amount of information, and they also took out backup copies. The manuscripts are all hidden here for the convenience of verification, and now these manuscripts have been reduced to ashes in this fire.

Where did such a strange thing come from? It is clear that someone deliberately set fire to destroy the evidence. Everyone knows this, but most people benefit from it, and a small number of people also know that there must be a big force behind them. A courtier who dared to speak out, asked the officials to investigate the case thoroughly, and shut up embarrassingly after Zhao Zhen's seemingly indifferent reaction.

——Aren’t the officials mad with anger?

Everyone speculated.

In fact, they were right in guessing that the fire was set on purpose, but it was Zhao Zhen who set it on fire.

Its purpose is very clear, he wants to give this part of the people involved in the case another chance, as to whether he has burned this part of the data, and how much he has burned, only he himself knows.

This fire can be said to be the kindness of the emperor, and it can also be said to be the most severe test of the emperor.

At the same time, to a certain extent, his actions also ensured the safety of the imperial envoys, so that the local army would not jump over the wall in a hurry.

Zhao Zhen hopes that through this investigation team, the troops below can honestly submit the actual number of people... If it is the same as before...

Then do the liquidation.

He didn't tell anyone about his plan. At first, Xia Anran thought that some people in the world were entrusted to act first, so that no traces were left. When he knew all this, he couldn't help but smile because of the emperor's move.

I can only praise one sentence - Your Majesty is merciful.

Forgive the worthy and send the stubborn to hell.

==

At the beginning of June, this duo of imperial envoys, called the investigation team, actually carried several guillotines in their hands. It’s true that their trip started with the investigation of the southern army where the emperor had just seized power, and turned around. To the northeast, and finally the Northwest Army.

It is estimated that there will be no one year that I will not come back this time.

Hua Manlou, who was personally approved by Master Qingran as only needing recuperation, also left the capital. He and Lu Xiaofeng went on a trip together. Hua Manlou wanted to see more when his eyes were better. The two martial artists were also considered to be immune to cold and heat, so they went directly to the north to play.Before they left, they had a small gathering with Xia Anran, and Xia Anran asked them to bring a letter to Liu Niang in the north, along with all kinds of medicinal herbs from the south.

Brother Bai received a bunch of orders, and went back to Jinhua to prepare for production. Xia Anran's side soon became quiet, and his palace resumed the world of two people.

The cats, cats and dogs in the house have gone through the most troublesome period, and the bitter summer has begun. In order to deal with these small animals that stick out their tongues and soak in the pond, he had to tinker with a simple version of a human hand fan. This kind of fan is popularized in Bianjing city at a flying speed.And soon someone transformed it into a more labor-saving pedal type. With this year's much cheaper iced cold drinks and melons and fruits, the Song people in Bianjing City have a wonderful life!

Just when Bianjing entered the summer mode, chaos suddenly broke out on the border.

In mid-June, the prefect of Northwest Huanzhou presumed to buy food, grass and mutton from local ethnic minorities at low prices, and used unreasonable means to collect them.The local people were deeply disturbed by it, and the beating of interested people in the Tibetan tribe caused the Qiang rebellion.

Because officials in the northwest Qinfeng Road, Yongxing Army and other areas were caught off guard, and the Qiang people were prepared to join forces, the northwestern frontier defense of the Song Dynasty encountered a huge test.

The Qiang people surrounded Pingyuan, Dingbian and other places, and incited the local people. The flames of rebellion were raging, and the Qiang tribes united to rebel against the Song army. It directly caused the Qiang people to unite with Tubo and other ethnic groups to set off chaos. Under Song Northwest Army's repeated involuntary moves, Huan and Yuanzhou fell into the hands of the Qiang people one after another.

The Northwest Army fought and retreated, it was inconvenient to do anything, and waited for the imperial order. Unexpectedly, the imperial order was not delivered for a long time, and the Tibetan tribes who had tasted the sweetness elected the leader of the Jingzhou Tibetan tribe, Shu Duolun, as the leader, relying on the party item, and demanded independence .

The party officials did not express their position, but provided arms support.

At this time, the situation turned from disturbing the frontier to the next. Song Ting was very angry after hearing the news that the surrendered tribes demanded independence. The emperor of Song directly issued an order, sending Fan Yong as the size appeasement envoy and Cao Yi as the deputy envoy. The Yongxing army stationed the army, and invited General Cao Wei, who was said to be sick and unable to get out of bed, to fight with all his strength. The Song army fought with the local rioters many times. Weapons, we are still good partners" and other words, but the effect is not great.

The Qiang, Fan and other ministries, who had weapons, money and food support, expressed their resolute refusal to surrender, and took the lead in attacking the Song army.

Forced by this, the Song army had to fight back out of "self-defense". This battle lasted for about a month before the border chaos was quelled.At the same time, because many forces in the Dangxiang showed signs of supporting these rebellious troops, and the evil leader fled into the territory of the Dangxiang with the help of the Dangxiang people, a certain general of the Song Army and his deputy rushed directly into the territory of the subordinate country with the help of the Dangxiang people. Therefore, the Song Dynasty officials expressed regret and apology, and made punishments for the officials involved in the incident by demotion and fines.

But at the same time, Song officials questioned the Dangxiang envoy—why are there traces of Dangxiang craftsmen in the weapons used by the rebellious army?

Why did our well-known villain who was captured by the general confess that he was driven by high-level party officials and supplied with supplies?Considering the various resistances imposed by the party and the fighting against each other in the process of arresting the villain, I also ask the leader of the party to give an explanation.

My Lord Song expresses anger and regret for this behavior. If Dangxiang cannot give Song a reasonable explanation, Song reserves the right to make further reactions.

--above.

The leader of the party, Li Deming, was sweating down his back after hearing that the envoy Song had finished reading his credentials in an arrogant and unhappy manner.

All this happened so fast that the whole process took only a moment.

During this period, everyone in the party seemed to be shrouded in a strange atmosphere, and people in the whole country were a little dizzy.

Li Deming is a conservative person. He knows that no matter how weak the Northwest Song Dynasty is, it will not be forced by a few small forces. These resistances will be like small flames, which will be extinguished with a prick.

But as the leader of the party, he didn't care about watching from the sidelines. First, he could observe the current strength of the Song army, and later, there was no harm in having others to reduce the strength of the Song border.

Li Deming did have the idea of ​​making a move. Any man with a little ambition in this world will give priority to the latter between [being posthumously named the first emperor] and becoming [the founding king].

It's just that although he was ready to move, he didn't dare to move this leg.

Without him, he was worried about King Taiping and Flying Star General Pang Tong in the northwest of the Song Dynasty, and at the same time, General Cao who guarded the northwest.

He didn't pay much attention to these people, because according to his understanding of the official position of the Song Dynasty and the emperor's mind, King Taiping and General Feixing would not be able to get rid of the ending of the dead dog sooner or later.

In the northeast direction where these two guards are now, the Liao Kingdom just had a fight with the Jurchens in its belly, and they gained a lot and suffered a lot. To while away the time among the powder piles and good food and wine.

Song and Liao could not fight in a short time.

And Song Liao, who can't fight...why let Song continue to have a king with a different surname who can fight?

The style of the new emperor of the Song Dynasty's ruling is still unclear for the time being, but just seeing that he directly cut down their Southern King as soon as he came to power, and trapped the new Southern King in the capital, if he is said to be kind and magnanimous... It's a joke, can such an emperor tolerate two mountains in the north?

Flying Star General Pang Tong was used by the Lord Song to suppress King Taiping, and once the favored concubine Pang Gui in the palace gave birth to a dragon son, I don't think it would take a few years for this Flying Star General to enter the palace just like his title. Flying stars across the sky, and then fell into the dust slightly.

Others can't afford to wait, but he can.

He wants to wait for his son to grow up, wait for the strength of the party to further increase, wait for them to take down Tubo, and even take down Dawan, wait for them to have the most powerful warriors, the strongest horses, and the most abundant land, and then, They can get back their own glory.

Before that, he had to be patient.

The emperor of the party did not regard this move as a deliberate instigation of the Song Dynasty, the reason is very simple.

The Song State sent people to various places to investigate the fact that the empty pay has already been spread around. Many leaders laughed at the Song Emperor's move as a death, but they praised the little emperor for his good work in words. It should be like this, and by the way, he criticized the people who were paid for nothing and showed a wave of loyalty.

Empty pay is a big taboo for the army. If they are found out, there is no doubt that they will not be able to escape from exile. Even so, why are those generals so patient?With the knife on his neck, is there any reason to talk to the little emperor?

Add another fire, and Song Guo will become a stinging little fat sheep!

Even the mere Qiang people dare to make a fuss for independence, isn't it because of seeing this.

But even so, Li Deming still did not make any drastic moves.He even didn't take advantage of the trend to make some big moves...

Cough cough, there are still small tricks, after all, wars and horses are suitable for Cypriots.The state of Song has the habit of stuffing the rebels into the army again. What a great opportunity, I would be sorry to my ancestors if I let it go.

...Oh, although he no longer remembers the name of his ancestor, forget it is not important.

Li Deming is really happy these days, but he really didn't want to take advantage of the chaos to become independent. Now is not the time, and the party needs time to accumulate. Whether they are in Liao or Liao, they are all waiting for Song. The chance to completely weaken.

Really, he swears, more real than the name of the emperor of Song Dynasty.

But he never thought that if he didn't make trouble, someone would make trouble.